Home
by Fluffy Nouget
Summary: She was still trying to find out the meaning of home, whether it be a person, place or thing. He was trying to figure out the mess that had become his life; trying to fit everything back in place. Who knew they'd end up helping each other? Minor language.


_**Look whose back with a brand new song and dance! This one is definitely different for me, so I hope the feedback is good and I look forward to what everyone has to say. Longer A/N at the end, so look for that if you make it that far!**_

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_**.: Prologue :.**_

For most people, Home consisted of walls and plaster and good memories. A place where tears were shed, laughter was shared, and anger and was released. A place where family came for the holidays, friends for the night, and boyfriends and girlfriends for the weekend. A place where pets were raised, children grown, and relationships broken or mended.

When I was growing up I practically lived off the belief that there really was 'no place like home'. Dorothy and her friends had pretty much brainwashed me into believing it to a point where I never even wanted to leave our house. It was silly, childish, and completely immature.

I loved every minute of it.

It wasn't until I got older and willingly left our house for the homes of my friends that I found the kind of life I had within my own home was one that wasn't normal. I picked up on the fact that my friend's parents never fought the way mine did; never yelled insults or curses back and forth between the walls like a volleyball, never threw plates or silverware off the table or push furniture around with flailing limbs.

Never shoved or knocked each other down.

I learned that where I was living wasn't a Home.

It was pretty much the equivalent of hell on earth.

When my Aunt Jen came the summer I turned 10 and insisted that I move with her up to D.C. I didn't put up as much of a fight as I thought I should have. My parents stitched painfully fake smiles onto their faces and stood on either end of the porch as I waved half heartedly from the car. They waved back, their hands flopping back and forth like dying fish on the bank of a river.

Years later I learned that dad had been having an affair with his secretary and that mom was selling herself on street corners trying to find that spark she thought she had lost after having me.

They got a divorce and dad got the house.

Mom burned it down a year later in a drunken rage, forcing both herself and my father to relocate.

I didn't hear much more from them and realized that I never truly had a Home to begin with.

You couldn't lose what you never had.

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.: Chapter 1 :.

"Well fuck me…" Weary eyes travelled across the map in the hopes of finding just where, exactly, the driver had taken the wrong turn or exit. Placing a pointer finger on the large blob that represented Seattle, the pointer of the other hand slowly traced down the Olympic Peninsula looking for the small seaside community of La Push. After much circling and re-tracing, the fingertip stops suddenly upon finding the name.

Great.

Now if only she were still in Seattle she could just follow the map.

Groaning in defeat, Holly Mayes slumped forwards even further onto her steeling wheel, the map crinkling beneath her. For a few seconds she closed her eyes and just basked in the eerie silence that could only be found when one was lost in the middle of the forest. Granted, there was a road; two lanes and pot holed beyond belief, but a road nonetheless.

It was a start.

Leaning back up in her seat and tossing the map to the floor, Holly stretched as much as the confines of her seat would allow and popped the door open, hopping out into the damp Washington atmosphere. With hands on her hips she leaned forwards and backwards and side to side, relishing in the many pops her joints made from the flexing. With hands still firmly fisted on her sides she walks slowly out into the middle of the road, her gaze drifting lazily up and down both ways.

It'd been hours since she'd last seen any cars…or even any signs of life for that matter.

Shaking her head, she continued to look both ways down the road, wondering if there was some ancient chunk of wisdom about an empty road that would apply nicely to her current situation.

She'd gladly take a sign.

Of any kind, really.

Biting her lip in frustration she made to turn back her beloved van when a rustling of foliage across the road caught her attention. She watched with held breath as the various limbs and branches shook as though being rocked by an earthquake before coming to a sudden rest. Stumbling backwards a few steps, Holly was soon back in her car with the driver's door shut and locked.

She reached over to the passenger side and popped that lock down too.

Still eyeing the section of greenery that had been alive mere seconds ago, she grasped the wheel with one hand and twisted the key with the other. Just as she was lowering her foot to the gas pedal to make a break for it, the shaking of the branches once more startled her into looking and made her eyes widen slightly as they seemed to magically move aside and reveal a busted up road sign. Squinting slightly to see through the few branches that wouldn't move, she could barely make out a name and amount of miles left to go.

Shaking her head in disbelief she tapped the gas and once again started on her way, the whole time glancing back in her rear view mirror to see if anything else unexplainable would happen.

She did, after all, ask for a sign.

_LA PUSH - 10 MILES_

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The only drawback to owning a vintage Volkswagen bus was the amount of gas it managed to burn through on a daily basis.

Holly grimaced as the dollar amount on the meter continued to steadily rise; she wasn't even at half a tank. She should have known running her car dead would result in her forking out more money at one given time, it was just one of the facts she had learned from living on the road.

Shaking her head as she continued to watch her increasing gas bill, she jumped slightly at a loud banging behind her. Turning to look over her shoulder she could manage to see through her windows to the small shack that accompanied the gas station. The noise had come from the screen door upon being slammed shut as a group of boys left the store, each laughing and flailing about, their voices carrying over to her.

"…pretty epic, if I do say so myself…"

"…why couldn't I get that one instead…"

"…she's going to be pissed when she finds out…"

Holly smiled slightly as the boys passed out of her line of sight. They appeared to be high school level, though they did admittedly look much older, but if their words were anything to go by they still had some maturing to do. Her smile soon turned back into a frown as memories of her own high school years began to resurface and left her feeling slightly agitated. Trying to shrug away the sudden mood swing she looked back to the tiny store to find that the small 'Open' sign was still lit up in the window.

Good; maybe someone would have better directions than that shit piece of paper that passed as a map.

Looking back at the pump she found her tank to be pretty much the equivalent of full and removed the nozzle and screwed the cap back on. Swiping her keys and wallet from the driver's seat and locking the door behind her, she approached the tiny shack, assuming she could pay for gas there.

Gingerly she opened the screen door, the small wind chime above her head tinkling softly with the movement. Looking around she found the place to be much bigger than it looked and almost sighed in relief at the sight of a nacho maker; the only thing remotely technical in the place besides the drink coolers and cash register. Speaking of which…

"New in town?" A boy, not much unlike the ones that had just left, asked from his spot behind the counter; an assuming expression on his face.

"Is it obvious?" Holly asked back sheepishly as she made her way over to one of the coolers and pulled out a Dr. Pepper. She briefly considered stopping for nachos, but remembered the leftovers in her car and forced herself to move on. "I'm at pump three, too." She added as the guy rung up her drink and gas.

"Sixty two fifty three." She sighed in annoyance as she pulled the bills out of her wallet and slid them deftly across the counter and waited for her two dollar and some odd change back.

"She a bitch to drive?" Looking up from where she was cramming the change into her pants pocket she found that it wasn't the guy at the register who spoke, but rather someone else leaning against the counter next to her.

She jumped slightly in surprise.

When did he show up?

"The van?" She asked, eyeing the teen next to her; well she assumed he was a teen.

"VW Bus, right?" He continued to ask, looking at with her chocolate colored eyes.

"Uh, yeah," She eventually managed to get out, "T2."

"Sweet," He said, nodding in appreciation, "do you know what year it is?"

"1966, I think…I'm pretty sure." She nodded, looking out the screen door and towards her baby.

"Sorry 'bout him; he really has no filtering when it comes to cars!" The guy behind the counter laughed as he reached over to shove the other dude lightly. Holly smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I get asked a lot of questions," She shrugged as she picked up her soda from the counter, "mostly about whether or not I realize I have the same car from that one movie."

"What movie?" The guy next to her asked, his eyebrows drawn together in thought.

"Oh! That one with Steve Carell! I know you know it, Jake! Gramps snorts the heroin!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know which one you're talking about; Little Miss Sunshine."

"Yeah!" The guy behind the counter laughed, shaking his head before turning back to Holly. "Your car looks like that one." He stated, slightly proud of himself as he twisted back and forth on his stool.

Holly couldn't help but smile.

"Well my car appreciates your praise," She nodded in thanks to the two teens. The one closet to her, Jake, just smiled and shook his head before shoving off from the counter and working his way around behind it.

"Here," He said, tossing a small pine tree shaped air freshener onto the counter, "once it gets damps in there it's bound to stink for a while. One of the things that sucks about living here."

"Who said I was going to be living here?" She asked, plucking the small tree off the counter with a quirked eyebrow. The still unnamed guy laughed and punched Jake jokingly on the shoulder.

"I just assumed…" He trailed off, slightly embrassed with his assumptions.

"Don't worry; I _am_ going to be living here, unfortunately…no offense!" She added quickly upon seeing the smirks from across the counter.

"In that case, let me introduce myself: Embry Call at your service, m'lady." Leaning over the cash register as far as he could Holly took in his unusual height and lengthy limbs. She shook his offered hand and rolled her eyes as he lightly brushed her knuckles with his lips.

"Jacob Black, though most just call me Jake." The other one said, also offering out his hand for a shake. "Don't worry, I'm not as dramatic as him." Holly actually laughed at this and shook her head.

"Holly Mayes, and it's very nice to meet you both. I'm assuming I'm in La Push, right?" She questioned, only to be met with two affirmative nods. "Great! Now can you tell me where I can find the old Ka…Key…Ki…house? I can't really say the name." She felt herself blush slightly at the butchering of the name of the house she was supposed to be looking for.

"The what house?" Embry asked, his face obviously telling her he was lost.

"The…I dunno, it starts with a 'k' and reminds me of Kiwis."

"You mean Kwaiya House?"

"Yes. That one." She said, pointing to Jake with a smile.

Thank god someone knew what she was talking about.

"It's about twenty miles down the road and off a bit from the main street."

"Ah, great, so that means I'm going to go…that way?" She asked, jabbing a thumb over her left shoulder, only to frown when Jake shook his head.

"Nope, other way, more like you're going to Port Angeles."

"Port what?" She deadpanned, now completely lost within the directions.

"You don't know where that is, do you?" Jake grinned, apparently finding some sort of humor out of Holly's increasing embarrassment at not knowing where she was going. "I can show you where it is." He offered quickly with a shrug and ignoring Embry's small laugh.

"Uh, sure…if you don't mind, that is." She was never one to accept help from strangers unless it was the most basic of things, but she figured that in the time she had been in the two boy's presence neither of them had attempted to beat or rape her, so she was safe for now.

"Not a problem." Jake grinned once again as he circled around the counter and was again at her side.

"Great," She smiled, grabbing her drink and moving for the door, "and I guess I'll be seeing you around." She smiled at Embry, who only smiled widely before offering a small wave of his own as she stepped outside with Jake on her heels.

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She couldn't help but marvel at the increasing amount of trees as Jake directed her deeper into the forest. The road had long since changed from asphalt to gravel and then steadily to straight up dirt, the tire tracks narrow from their infrequent use. They puttered along slowly, branches smearing past her windows as they made their way down the narrow lane towards the property.

"I take it this house isn't very popular?" Holly asked with a slight cringe as the twiggy end of a limb scratched the glass of her window like nails on a chalkboard. Jake smiled over her, seemingly not bothered by the noise.

"The reservation used to maintain it until the funding fell through and ever since then it's been owned by some business up in Seattle, which is why it's weird you're looking for it." He explained with a faux look of suspicion. Holly rolled her eyes and motioned for her passenger to extract a large binder from the mess on the floor between their seats.

"I'm an undergrad at Cornell in their Architectural studies program. Rather than intern at some engineering place or an actual business, I opted for the individual skill building course."

"That sounds kind of scary." Jake noted with a laugh as he dug around for a bit until finding what Holly had been pointing at. He pulled the bulging binder onto his lap and stared at it incredulously.

"What exactly am I looking at?" He asked, marveling at how heavy it was in his hands.

"That would be everything I've done so far; you can look through it if you want. It's mostly just paperwork and some sketches, though. I keep everything else in one of these boxes." She nodded her head back behind her where boxes were crammed tightly against one another in the small space.

Jake stared at her as though she was crazy.

"Do you live in your car?" At this Holly laughed and shook her head.

"No, but a lot of people think I do. There was this one time in L.A. when I had stopped at some burger place and this lady tried to give me money because she saw I pretty much had my life packed into my car."

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah; it took forever to explain everything to her." She shook her head with a small smile, looking over to find her passenger smiling back. After that a comfortable silence filled the car as Holly continued to navigate the van down the seemingly un-ending road as Jake flipped through the binder, his eyebrows raised in surprise at the detailed blueprints for houses he had never seen and the clear-as- day sketches of what they could become. He really didn't know that much about architecture, but was pretty sure Holly was good at what she did if her designs were anything to go by.

"Is that it?" Her voice eventually sounded, and he looked up to find her pointing at a large building emerging from the trees. He nodded as the old landmark came even further into view, noting briefly that even after years of solitude it hadn't changed the slightest.

"Yup, that's it." Jake smiled; he could definitely recall a few times him and the guys had slinked around in curiosity before eventually running away because they believed it to be haunted.

"That's a really nice house." Holly remarked as she leaned forwards to get a better view, her eyes growing wide as they finally broke through the mass of trees and entered the small clearing surrounding the place, her face similar to that of a child's in a candy shop.

"Yeah…sure." Jake remarked, wondering just what exactly she thought was nice about it. The old Kwaiya house still resembled a large shoebox with a sad excuse for a porch jutting out in the front. The second story windows seemed to sag, slumped into the walls, while the chimney was angled slightly off center. Most of the moldy gray shingles had fallen off in some places, proving that wood was no longer the way to go since vinyl siding had been invented. Even from where he sat Jake could tell the burgundy paint on the front door and shutters was flaked and falling off.

So yeah…it was definitely _nice_.

"What exactly are you doing here?" He inquired, his brows drawn together incredulously as he looked over at the driver.

"I'm going to live here." Holly stated matter-of-factly as she slowed to a stop and examined the house before them.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"And do what?" She looked over at him smiled as though she thought it was cute how he couldn't quite get the bigger picture.

"I'm going to do what I've been doing for the past four months: move in, rework the house and do some sketches and other stuff, then high tail it back to Cornell to get my degree."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me: I've been given four months and three houses to come up with new designs for. I live about a month at each place and come up with proposals and what not, then when I'm done I'll turn it in and hopefully pass. Individual skill building and all that." She shrugged with a wide smile as she once again gave her newest conquest another survey with her gaze. Jake stared at her as though she was crazy and grabbed a pen from the cup holder and tore a corner off an unused piece of paper.

"Here's my number," he explained from where he sat, "you're going to need all the help you can get." Holly accepted with a gentle smirk and quirked brow, seemingly knowing what was flying through his mind.

"I'll definitely be taking you up on that offer." She stated as she popped open the door and slid from her seat, missing the slight blush on the boy's face as he rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck.

He had to at least get props for trying, right?

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_**A/N:**__ After finishing this I will promptly hide in a hole in fear of what will come, but before that there's this: THANK YOU ALL so much for reviews & comments still pouring in for When the Wind Blows and also it's follow up, WTWB: Adventures. You've made me a very happy camper!_

_As far as this new one goes, here's how it came to be in a nutshell: Inspired by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes 'Home' song (doubled with my dislike for Breaking Dawn) I wanted to do a fic that had Jake interacting with someone who wasn't a werewolf or vampire; a Switzerland, really. Thus Holly was born. What I'm hoping to achieve here is something new and original that gets people thinking about the whole imprinting thing and its pros and cons (not that I'm saying it's bad) in someone's life. _

_I'm hoping there'll be a few of you out there who will want me to continue this, so leave me a review/comment voicing your thoughts/opinions/questions/obscene remarks and we'll see what happens! _

_And sorry for making this a long ass note…I know more than half of you won't read it, so in that case put your favorite food in a review if you leave one and read this. :) _


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